Secret Weapon

Mr. Drucker swore that Bobby’s ray gun was just a cheap toy; colorful plastic, a battery and a little light, Made in Japan. Anyone could buy one for just a couple of bucks.

But when Bobby pointed his ray gun at the playground swing set and said “Zap!”, the swing set vanished. Just gone, like it was never there.

Any time Bobby zapped something with his plastic ray gun, it disappeared. The grade school. Police cars, ambulance, a fire truck. All just gone.

The governor sent in the National Guard. Tanks, jeeps and rifles. Bobby was “an unprecedented danger and an unpredictable threat,” the Governor said. The soldiers marched into town, parked their tanks all around the town square and surrounded Bobby, rifles pointed. The news cameras caught all of the action as it unfolded, live to the entire nation.

And the National Guard marched out again wearing nothing but their skivvies.

Do you remember that day when the alien warships landed at the edge of town, and those tripod robot things were heat-beaming everything in sight?

Nobody was really sure how Bobby could do the things he did. But we were sure glad that he could do them.